Wednesday, June 8, 2011

ACTORS, SINGERS,MUSICIANS, both native and non-native, are sought by The Pomo Project and American Dream Players. Janey Hirsh has written an original serio/comic, musical play, Weya, to premier this October in Sebastopol. Several roles are available for adult women and men of varying ages.

AUDITIONS Saturday, June 25 and Sunday, June 26, 1:00 and 3:00 pm, at Coffee Catz, 6761 Sebastopol Avenue, Sebastopol. The American Dream Players are a warm, supportive group - awareness is more important than your resume. For more info call Janey at (707) 538-7543 or 478-1994.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The intrepid helpers of the Pomo Project are beginning to meet again, thinking through the challenge of creating events for this year's Pomo Honoring Month.

We have among our active planners two new friends from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, Lorelle Ross & Jeannette Anglin. Their insights & connections with Pomo artists & speakers are invaluable.

Still, we need excited (yet calm) minds, extra hands & feet, & gifts of time & money to bring this celebration into meaningful form. Sharon Ledbetter, who did such a great job last year of creating weekly culture booths at Sebastopol Farmers Market has been called away by other duties, so we're especially looking for a Farmers Market coordinator.

Our theme this year is "A Sense of Place." We all appreciated how much we learned about this place & the sensibilities of its earlier inhabitants as we listened last October to Greg Sarris' brilliant talk. From the beginning, this project has been spiritually generated by the Laguna de Santa Rosa, & perhaps we can explore the sacredness of this world-recognized wetland more deeply, in beauty.

Friday, March 11, 2011

A beautiful Pomo elder I had the pleasure & honor of knowing died on Monday. Vana Lawson was an anthropologist, author, ethnobotanist, jeweler, gourd artist, & invaluable supporter of many, many relatives & friends. Daughter of Kashaya spiritual leader Essie Parrish, Vana was also a medicine carrier, passing the traditional ways of her people into the future. I will always treasure the hours I was so fortunate to spend with her.

Last night I & three others from the Pomo Project--Janey Hirsh, Laura Shafer, & Sterling Hoffmann--attended a memorial service to honor her memory & her life. We were deeply moved by the outpouring of affection witnessed by so many she had sheltered, counseled, and nourished over the years.

In the pre-dawn, I had this dream:

The Pomo have built a homeless shelter near the Sebastopol-Santa Rosa seam of the Laguna. It is called Vana Lawson House. There are five squarish buildings with mansard roofs, painted a warm olive green, with the function of each stenciled in yellow ochre: Sleeping, Feeding, Doctoring, Learning, Playing. The Sleeping house has rows of bunk beds & showers. The Feeding house has tables & a well-equipped kitchen. The Doctoring house is a clinic where modern & traditional medicines work together. The Learning house has shelves of books, a few computers, displays of art & crafts, a circle of chairs for talks on Pomo traditions, job hunting, legal advice, & community life. The Playing house is where children enjoy happiness independent of financial fortune.

In this dream, I saw that this homeless shelter was not built for homeless Pomo, who might better be taken in by relatives. Rather, it served all kinds of people, especially those whose cultures fail at taking care of their members. It was created & run not just by Vana's Kashaya people, but by members of different bands of Pomo acting together for a common good. It was funded by casino money, from several different casinos. These were its benefits:

A warm dry place for people to sleep & rest with dignity while lacking the funds for rental housing.

Good meals eaten in a nourishing atmosphere for families & individuals going through hard times.

Health care & counseling to help people weather difficulties & find their way back to usefulness & prosperity.

Protection for the children of destitute families.

Sharing knowledge & building community for people feeling left out, left behind, so they can be embraced by the world around them.

The Pomo being seen & appreciated by the larger community as innovative, compassionate, effective contributors.

Increased interest in Pomo tradition by the larger community, as well as within the younger generations of Pomo.

Indian gaming seen in a new light.

Modeling Pomo values of caring & responsibility as a positive influence in a culture suffering from misplaced priorities.

This is my attempt to put into words a dream that was brief, vivid, visual & profound. While it was mostly images, all these elements were instantaneously contained in it. It would be amazing & wonderful if such a place comes into being. Otherwise, I understand it to represent some of what Vana held in her heart, for her family, her Pomo people, & the world at large. It was this generosity & hope that led her to work with us fumbling white people to create Sebastopol's Pomo Honoring Month, to trust our intentions to bring forth something good. It was this generosity & hope that ran through the witness of all those who spoke their love of her last night.

We have lost a great one. May we carry Vana's generosity & hope far forward.

Friday, February 11, 2011

I was working on paintings for Sebastopol's first Pomo Honoring month during the weeks of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Even before I took time out to paint specifically a Prayer for the Gulf, my concern for the beings of the Gulf waters was spilling into my work.

In Dancer & Pelicans (acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18") I depict a young dancer sending healing energy to the Gulf, where the pelicans visibly benefit from the power of her dance.

Weeks later, when the spill had been capped & the painting was on exhibit at Sebastopol Gallery, the dancer saw this painting of herself. Tears came to her eyes as she told me that all summer she had been offering her dancing as prayer for the Gulf: its waters, its creatures, its people. Which brought tears to mine.

The pathways of healing are mysterious. I'm reading Nassim Taleb's book, The Black Swan, about the "impact of the highly improbable." He mentions the possibility that our most important heroes are unknown, because their obscure work has actually prevented the disasters where more standard heroes shine.

I'm certain that Rose's dancing is heroic, & hope that at least some of my paintings are a force against disasters that never happen.

Pomo Honoring in Sebastopol

Some folks in Sebastopol, California, are supporting public recognition of Pomo people & culture. Our first human residents of Sonoma County, despite generations of suffering since European contact, have maintained wisdom traditions of great value. We're helping people to learn Pomo history, appreciate Pomo crafts & ceremony, & invite vital Pomo input into community decision processes. This site will describe how this project is unfolding & ways to get involved.

About Me

Raised by trees in New England & further educated by forests in Oregon & California. For 35 years I've been painting to restore harmony with all our relations. I'm a founding member of Sebastopol Gallery & support the work of Honor the Earth. A life-threatening illness brought out my affinity for NDNs. I yearn to help restore Native values to American culture & policy. Meanwhile my two daughters keep me in line.